The calendar for the Fuchs Lubricants R.A.C. Historic Asphalt Rally Championship has been announced and will comprise six rounds at five events in 2016. The new championship, which will accommodate two-wheel drive historic cars from up to the end of 1990, will be organised by the Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club alongside the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship.Highlights of the schedule include a double-header round on the Isle of Man Rally Classicagh (15-17 September) and a trip to Belgium for the Salamandre Rally (23/24 April). The familiar UK asphalt venues of Epynt and Otterburn are represented by the Harry Flatters Rally (31 July) and the Cheviot Keith Knox Stages (9 October) and the programme will start with the Bovington Stages in Dorset on 5/6 March.In addition, though it will not be a championship round, contenders will be encouraged to contest the Killarney Historic Rally (3 December) as an end-of-season party event. Championship manager Colin Heppenstall explained that the calendar includes a range of events in order to test the market in the first year of the new championship. “We’ve deliberately chosen a good spread of events, both in terms of geography and scale of rally. This will give us the opportunity to see which events enjoy the best support and that information will help shape the 2017 calendar.”The best four scores from six rounds will count towards the championship, thus giving competitors a good choice over which events they contest.The schedule is:March 5/6: Bovington Stages (Dorset)April 23/24: Salamandre Rally (Belgium)July 31: Harry Flatters Rally (Epynt)September 15-17: Isle of Man Rally Classicagh – double-headerOctober 9: Cheviot Keith Knox Stages (Otterburn)December 3: Killarney Historic Rally (non-championship event)Two of the events, the Harry Flatters Rally and the Isle of Man Rally Classicagh, are also rounds of the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship. Crews will be able to score points towards both championships on those two events.Heppenstall explained the thinking behind the Killarney event. "FIA and MSA rules do not allow us to include two events outside the UK, and we already have an event in Belgium in the 2016 schedule. However, we all recognise that the Killarney Historic Rally is a real highlight of the historic asphalt rallying calendar and so we are going to encourage as many of our contenders as possible to enter the rally. We think it will make a great end-of-season trip with some epic rallying followed by a fabulous party atmosphere. There will be no championship points but we will provide some awards for the highest finishing crews who are registered championship contenders."
The championship regulations and registration forms will be available in early January and from the Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club stand at Autosport International at the NEC (14-17 January).Dates are subject to MSA approval.
